Crystal Maze
The Crystal Maze was a game show, produced by Chatsworth Television and shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom from 15 February 1990 to 10 August 1995. There was one series per year, with the first four series presented by Richard O'Brien and the final two by Ed Tudor-Pole, who made his debut in the 1993 Christmas special. Each show was one hour long, including commercial breaks. Format Originally, Chatsworth Television intended to make a British version of the French show Fort Boyard, but when it became clear that the fort would not be available at the time of the pilot show, Fort Boyard's creator Jacques Antoine was consulted about developing an alternative format that could be shot elsewhere. As a result, the show ended up substantially different. It was filmed on a very large set, originally at H Stage in Shepperton Studios, but in later series at an adapted aircraft hangar named Aces High Studios, at North Weald Airfield in Essex. The set was divided into four 'Zones' (originally Aztec, Futuristic, Medieval and Industrial; Industrial was replaced by Ocean from series four onwards), as well as the Crystal Dome, a giant geometric acrylic glass 'crystal' (see the title card at the right) at the centre of the maze, where the teams play their final challenge after playing games in each of the four Zones. In each episode, a team consisting of three men and three women (including a team captain and vice-captain) would enter the 'maze,' starting from a pre-determined Zone, and play three or four games of various types in each Zone before entering the Crystal Dome. The teams were put together by Chatsworth from individual applicants, only meeting each other for the first time on the day before filming their episode, unlike the UK version of Fort Boyard which was eventually made some years later, in which teams applied and played as teams. The objective of the show was to amass as many 'time crystals' as possible (these were golf ball-sized Swarovski glass crystals) by playing the games in each Zone; each game successfully played would win one 'time crystal.' When the team reached the Crystal Dome, they had to collect as many gold 'tokens' as possible in order to win a prize. Each crystal that the team won earlier would allow them five seconds of time in the Dome to collect tokens, so the more crystals the team won in the Zones, the more time and thus the better chance they had of getting a high gold token count. Before each game in a Zone, the team captain would choose which contestant would play and which type of challenge the game would involve. Games were classed as Physical, Mental, Skill or Mystery. These were typically puzzle games, often involving dexterity (especially the Skill games). The chosen team member would be sent into a chamber to play a game, and their team-mates could advise them from outside (except in specific mental games where the team would be instructed not to confer. although general encouragement could still be shouted in). Successfully solving the puzzle would release a crystal. In the early series, the captain's choice of game and contestant was genuine; in later series, it was not a free choice and was 'imposed' on the team by the production team. Each game had a time limit of two, two-and-a-half, or three minutes. If the contestant failed to exit the chamber in time, they would be 'locked in.' In some games, known as 'automatic lock-in' games, the contestant could also be locked in by losing three 'lives,' for example by touching the floor if this was forbidden for that game, or setting off an 'alarm' three times. A small number of games didn't allow contestants to exit without winning the crystal, usually achieved by having the crystal freely accessible but requiring a puzzle to be solved to get out. Contestants who were 'locked in' were unable to play more games—nor enter the Crystal Dome—unless the team captain chose to buy a contestant's freedom at the cost of a previously-earned crystal; this could be done at any time after the lock-in. Buying out a 'locked-in' contestant required another team member to physically take a crystal to the chamber where the contestant was locked in, leaving the crystal there in exchange for their bought-out colleague. As this was sometimes a lengthy trip, it effectively took a second contestant out of action for several games, so the timing was important. If the contestants did not rejoin the team in time, they would both be excluded from the Crystal Dome finale: a danger that was stated in several episodes, though this never actually happened. If the captain was locked in, the vice-captain took over until he or she elected to buy the captain's freedom. After competing in all four Zones, the remaining contestants entered the Crystal Dome, a 16-foot high replica of the 'time crystals' surrounded by a seven-foot circular moat and entered by a three-foot wide 'drawbridge' which was hydraulically retracted once the team were inside. Similarly, one of the Dome's triangular panels was hydraulically opened and closed to let the team enter, then lock them inside. Inside the Dome, gold and silver banknote-sized 'tokens' made of foil were blown around from beneath the wire mesh floor by six huge fans mounted on a slowly rotating giant turntable, leading to O'Brien's catchphrase, delivered in a cod American accent: "Start the fans, PLEASE!" After much experimentation with samples of dozens of different foils, the production team found only one which worked properly in the Dome without either falling to the floor and staying there, blowing straight to the top of the Dome and staying there, or 'sticking' to the wall panels. Unfortunately, this foil-like material was only manufactured in silver, so the gold tokens were actually silver ones which were sprayed with gold paint by the production crew. In the Dome, and after the fans and turntable were up to speed with all the tokens swirling around, the team's aim was to grab the tokens from the air and post them into a roughly house brick sized clear plastic container mounted at waist height on the outside of one of the dome's panels. Tudor-Pole called it The Cosmic Pyramid, while O'Brien simply called it The Letterbox. The container had a pneumatically-operated door on the inside, marked with a red saltire-shaped cross, which opened when the collection time started and closed when time was up. The team had to collect 100 or more gold tokens to win, but each silver token gathered would cancel out a gold token. Hence, the team actually had to collect 100 more gold tokens than silver ones. In series two, a gold and silver gauge would appear on-screen whilst the team played in the Dome so viewers could watch how many gold and silver tokens the contestants had collected. This was scrapped from series three onward. The ratio of silver to gold tokens within the Dome was five to four, and the gold tokens were very difficult to tell from silver ones when blowing around inside the Dome, especially since the paint on the 'gold' tokens tended to flake off, although neither of these details were obvious to the viewer. The shape and size of the Dome meant that every sound within it (including a contestant's own voice!) appeared to come from a single point roughly ten feet above the Dome's mesh floor, and directly above its centre. This could be disorientating to the contestants. In the first series, a final balance of 50-99 gold tokens entitled team members to a 'runner-up' prize, but this was dropped in later series. Originally, it was also planned to offer a 'double-or-nothing' Gamble Game to teams winning 50-99 gold tokens. This consisted of a small 'wire-frame' model of the Crystal Dome with some pieces removed, which the team (if they accepted the Gamble) would have to re-assemble within a time limit. However, the Gamble Game idea was dropped shortly before the first series was filmed. All of the prizes awarded to the team before series four were individual adventure days out, such as a flight in a Tiger Moth or a day spent mud-plugging, and contestants chose their own gold and silver grade prizes off set, just in advance of filming the Crystal Dome part of the show. From series four onwards, the contestants would choose a single prize (usually once-in-a-lifetime adventure holidays) shared by the whole team. Winning teams were few and far between; a testament to how much of a challenge the show actually was, or, as many observers would say, a reflection on the types of contestants that were selected for the show. All players that participated won a commemorative crystal saying "I Cracked the Crystal Maze, 1990-5," despite the fact that the vast majority failed. Category:Crystal Maze Category:Overview